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On October 8, elementary schools in three Rhode Island cities (Johnston, Cranston, and Warwick) were targeted with terrorist threats, according to local media affiliate WTIC in Connecticut.

From the CBS report:

Warwick’s police chief says a threat to elementary school students in three communities mentioned beheading.

Col. Steven McCartney tells WPRO-AM that the threat specified that “beheading is planned.” He called the nature of the threat targeting children in Warwick, Cranston and Johnston chilling.

Because the letters were anonymous, investigators could not determine the motivation behind such perverse threats. Nevertheless, terrorism is terrorism.The Providence Journal also reported on the frenzied response from the community. Enrollment plummeted by 43% in the three cities. Even middle school and high school students did not show up to class.CommentaryThe War on Terror was supposed to be a war fought overseas, in the terrorists’ backyard.Now the fight has come to our coasts, and into our schools.Just last month, a Muslim convert beheaded a woman in Oklahoma, and prior to that the United States has witnessed a Muslim army official open fire at Fort Hood, in Texas. The same assailant, who killed military personnel, remains in custody, and just wrote a letter to Pope Francis, threatening jihad against him.Another terrorist tried to a blow up a plane en route to Detroit using an explosive in his underwear. At least the measure was desperate in its naivety, which suggested that Al Qaeda was on the run, and Osama bin Laden is dead. However, the terrorist acts have not died down. During the 2013 Boston Marathon, two Muslim immigrants donated a bomb along the course track, which wounded many. Despite intelligence which suggested their illicit activities, Massachusetts and federal officials failed to prevent this attack.Earlier this year, Muslim demonstrations in New York City included a mannequin hanging from a gallows. NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio said nothing. Another War on Women, and liberal interests were silent. Terrorism has taken a foothold on the home front, and now even New England is no longer immune.The terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center disrupted this nation’s commerce. Now terrorists are targeting schools, and they want to prevent our children from learning. Why target children? They are a vulnerable population in our communities, and any threats to them instill deep fears.Where do these thugs get the audacity to commit such crimes? I never heard of such attacks during the Reagan or the Bush Administrations (Both I and II). President Barack Obama has spoken softly and wagged his finger at aggressive nation-states. Before this policy of “Don’t do stupid stuff”, Obama’s first outreach to the Muslim world was a diplomatic Apology Tour. While Israel fights to assert her right to exist, the President told the Prime Minister to consider land swaps. In a rare, open rebuke from a head of state, Netanyahu explained to the press core that there is no way for Israel to maintain its presence by returning its borders back to pre-1967 levels.Where Netanyahu hoped for reasonable change of mind, the radical Islamic element recognized in the President an adamant Ostrich-polity of ignore conflict, followed by hope in the cult of global equality to smooth out the ethnic conflicts. From the Arab Spring giving way to an Islamic Winter, “See No Evil” failed as a foreign policy. When Obama drew a red line, Assad and the radical elements in Syria danced all over it, then the President denied drawing a line in the first place. Russian President Vladimir Putin annexes Crimea and invades Ukraine, and the Presidents gently chided: “Stop doing that!”Conflicts in Eastern Europe and the Middle East have transformed into ethnic cleansing. Jews are fleeing Europe because of rising anti-Semitism. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has burst forth across Eastern Syria and Northern Iraq, wiping out religious dissenters and cultural minorities who refuse to submit to Islam. These demented forces would not have emblazoned their destructive will so brazenly, but for an Obama Administration which has taken conciliatory poses, hashtags, and press corps photo-ops as a viable foreign policy. American reticence has enabled such terrorist arrogance.Today, this weakness projected abroad has welcomed terrorism at home. Not just threats to Rhode Island children, but in schools throughout New England threatening letters have put public safety officers on alert. Combine these “chilling” notes with the immigration crisis along the border, and the outbreak of dangerous illnesses (Ebola, and even whooping cough in California), and American citizens must accept that our leaders are not leading. They are not protecting our rights nor securing our borders, for the number one right, life, is now so easily threatened, that children are afraid to go to school, and state leaders in education and public safety fear the long-term consequences.Terrorism has come to a school near you, Rhode Island, and the blame for this disturbing state of affairs falls on a feckless Obama administration, combined with their reckless agenda of ignoring evil, thus enabling aggression at home as well as abroad.

Arthur Christopher Schaper is a teacher-turned-writer on topics both timeless and timely; political, cultural, and eternal. A life-long Southern California resident, Arthur currently lives in Torrance.